Solar power is a fast developing industry in India. The country's solar installed capacity was 71.61 GWAC as of 31 August 2023. Solar power generation in India ranks fourth globally in 2021.
In FY2023-24, India is planning to issue 40 GW tenders for solar and hybrid projects. India has established nearly 42 solar parks to make land available to the promoters of solar plants.
During 2010–19, the foreign capital invested in India on Solar power projects was nearly 20.7 billion US$.
The International Solar Alliance (ISA), proposed by India as a founder member, is headquartered in India. India has also put forward the concept of "One Sun One World One Grid" and "World Solar Bank" to harness abundant solar power on a global scale.
History
The Indian Government had an initial target of 20 GW capacity for 2022, which was achieved four years ahead of schedule. In 2015 the target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from rooftop solar) by 2022, targeting an investment of 100 billion. The target was widely missed by 40,000 MW shortfall due to poor performance in rooftop sector.
Rooftop solar power accounts for 2.1 GW in 2018, of which 70% is industrial or commercial. In addition to its large-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) initiative, India is developing off-grid solar power for local energy needs. Solar products have increasingly helped to meet rural needs; by the end of 2015 just under one million solar lanterns were sold in the country, reducing the need for kerosene. That year, solar home lighting systems were installed and 46,655 solar street lighting installations were provided under a national programme; just over 1.4 million (1.4 million) solar cookers were distributed in India.
Solar potential
With about 300 clear and sunny days in a year, the calculated solar energy incidence on India's land area is about 5,000 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year (or 5 EWh/yr). The solar energy available in a single year exceeds the possible energy output of all of the fossil fuel energy reserves in India. The daily average solar-power-plant generation capacity in India is 0.30 kWh per m2 of used land area, equivalent to 1,400–1,800 peak (rated) capacity operating hours in a year with available, commercially-proven technology.
In June 2015, India began a project to measure solar radiation with a spatial resolution of . This solar-radiation measuring network provides the basis for the Indian solar-radiation atlas. 121 solar radiation resource assessment (SRRA) stations have been installed across India by the National Institute of Wind Energy, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to create a database of solar-energy potential. Data is collected and reported to the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET). Among the parameters measured are Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) and Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI).
Installations by region
Installed capacity: national and state-wise
Andhra Pradesh
The installed photovoltaic capacity in Andhra Pradesh was 4257 MW as of 30 September 2022. The state is planning to add 10,050 MW solar power capacity to provide power supply to the farming sector during the day time. The state has also offered five Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects with a total capacity of 12,200 MW to developers under renewable power export policy outside the state. Andhra Pradesh is endowed with abundant pumped hydroelectric energy storage to make available solar power in to round the clock power supply for meeting its ultimate energy needs. The state is planning to construct 33,000 MW pumped storage projects to mitigate the intermittency associated with renewable energy.
In 2015, NTPC agreed with APTransCo to install the 250-MW NP Kunta Ultra Mega Solar Power Project near Kadiri in Anantapur district. In October 2017, 1000 MW was commissioned at Kurnool Ultra Mega Solar Park which has become the world's largest solar power plant at that time. In August 2018, Greater Visakhapatnam commissioned a 2 MW Mudasarlova Reservoir grid-connected floating solar project which is the largest operational floating solar PV project in India. NTPC Simhadri has awarded BHEL to install a 25 MW floating solar PV plant on its water supply reservoir. APGENCO commissioned 400 MW Ananthapuram – II solar park located at Talaricheruvu village near Tadipatri.